The Journey
by Arkangel4
Summary: Chris must unite with his friends and save Olympus.
1. Classics Festival

The day was the day of the classics festival, where the Latin student from a bunch of high schools get together to show off projects that they made. I, Katie, and Noelle (two other half bloods) were all together in the back row of the Dickinson college auditorium.

"I'm so excited," Katie whispered in a hushed voice.

Noelle and I simultaneously put our fingers to our lips to silence her.

"And now," the presenter spoke, "the fashion show! Our first entry is by; Joseph miller..."-I sharply inhaled-" these three boys created a costume representing, Cerberus, guard dog of the underworld..." The lady continued to speak.

Katie and Noelle noticed it too. It wasn't a costume it was actually Cerberus, but how could we see him? He obviously saw us. With a snarl he leaped up the steps until he was threes chairs away. The monster huffed and focused on Katie. I stood up and threw my phone at it. Why? I don't know. It was a direct hit on the forehead. The dog looked at me, it eyes glowed red with hate. I vaulted the railing and took off toward the display tables. I hoped it was following, earlier that trip I saw a sword that looked vaguely real. In hopes of it killing the beast, it was my only goal. When I arrived at the display case I saw it was locked, an idea formed in my head, it was a long shot but I tried anyway. By this time the mutt was pushing past projects in the hallway. With a quick tug on the lock it opened, I grabbed the sword and twirled in enough time to watch Cerberus dissipate before my eyes. I slung the sword into my belt. The smell of sulfur pervaded the air, I pulled my shirt up to cover my face. By the time I got back it was time for lunch. I looked around in the massing crowed for my friends, they had broken off the main group and sat beneath a tree.

"Guys, we have to get home, ASAP."

"Why?" Noelle asked

"What's with the sword?" Cheyenne, one of our friends asked. I dusted the question aside.

"Because, that thing was really Cerberus, and I think I killed it. But it was after Katie so there must be a connection. Noelle do you have your license?"

"Yeah, but I don't see how-"

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to steal the limo keys from Magistra, you guys go find the limo."

I slipped off to the low rising wall Magistra was sitting on. I spotted my friend Brianna Cooper and gestured her over,

"What?" She asked?

"I need you to do something for me, ask her about doing footloose for the song/dance part next year, and whatever you do, don't look at me,"

I made a wide circle behind Magistra and tread softly. Cooper went rambling on and Magistra paid me no attention. The keys were right next to her. I made a quick grab. Success. She hadn't noticed me. I slinked over to the parking lot and handed Noelle the keys. "Let's go," I said.


	2. The Burning School

Upon arrival all the students were evacuated. Noelle parked the limo up the street a little ways, the school was on fire and the art wing was collapsed. The three of us silently joined the crowds.

At that time Mr. Levi, gave a speech, "students and faculty do not worry, there are students still inside the building and are being searched for, there is no need to panic the EMS, police department and fire department are here."

That's when I noticed Kenzie, Clarissa and Lexi all missing. I shot a glance at Katie two lines over and mouthed their names. A look of alarm spread over her face. There was nothing we could do, nothing but pray.

The three of us gathered near the flag pole and created a rescue plan, we guessed they'd be in the language/art wing because that part was damaged. I unlocked the main doors and let Katie and Noelle sneak through and I picked up the rear. We rounded the bend into the hallway with the cubbies and saw two monstrous dogs ripping at a back pack, the contents spilled onto the floor, a small decorated journal flopped out. I recognized it as the journal Clarissa shared with her friends. Looking to my friends as a way to get passed, Katie shrugged and Noelle suggested the other hallway. We back tracked until we reached the lobby again. A grin exploded over Katie as she looked down the workshop hallway.

"I have an idea," she whispered and went in that direction.

Looking at Noelle I said, "Hope we meet up with her soon,"

We journeyed down the hall zig zagging avoiding fires and such. When we arrived at the language hall we saw Clarissa and Lexi in a room barricaded with desks to prevent anything from coming in. I glanced worriedly into the window, they saw me and pointed to the courtyard window, I took that as they wanted to meet other there. Walking around the debris we met them in the court yard.

"Chris! Noelle! Thank gods you guys are alive. Kenzie forgot about the trip. She's in the art wing looking for you two. Wait, where's Katie?"

"Right here." She was holding a wrapped bundle of something and her left shoulder was wrapped in gauze. "When I was in the workshops I made these, untiring the knot, swords tumbled out. They were crude and short. But Katie said they had been proven effective. They each took a sword and left one propped against the wall.

"We can't all go out there," Clarissa said. "We should stay here as long as we can."

"Not me, I'm going to look for Kenzie. Like it or not." I stammered. I was full of fear but I couldn't let that show. These were my friends, they looked up to me. Even though they pick on my non-stop. They looked to me as their leader.


	3. Kenzie's Rescue

Chapter 3 - Kenzie's Rescue

I set out with Lexi and Katie following me, we were armed two the teeth. We had spent a good thirty minutes preparing for anything. Coming out of the courtyard we had looked left, there was nothing but rubble on that side, so we went right. I swiftly but silently ran the length of the hall, in the hall leading to the career exploration room there stood another of those black wolves we saw earlier. But its attention wasn't on me, but Kenzie, she stood there with a wall of black energy around her. The dog backed away as Kenzie advanced, the hound must have scented me because it turned and leaped toward me. My reaction time was bad and Lexi and Katie were still a little ways back. I was forced to the ground, I held the monster back, and it's snapping jaws inches from my throat. I thought I couldn't hold it. That I should give up. The weight lifted from me and it was Kenzie standing there with tendrils of black energy around her. In one of those tentacles she squeezed the hell hound and then it burst into a sulfuric dust. I sneezed She looked at me and said "bless you," and fainted. I got up and looked to Katie and Lexi who were already there.

"Can you guys help me out?" I asked

Without a word we picked up her hands and dragged her through the hall back to the courtyard.

Roughly three hours later she stirred. In the meantime I had raided the kitchen getting all sorts of goodies. We had only stayed because of the hounds, Kenzie being unconscious, and us getting lost on the way back from the classics fest.

"So thirsty," she whispered.

I reached over to the pile of water bottles and passed one to Kenzie. It was starting to get dark, the girls had turned in early for the night and I planned to stand guard. We all called home and told our parents we wouldn't be coming home tonight. We did our best to explain and promised we'd be safe. Kenzie sat up with a sigh,

"Chris, thanks for saving me." She said.

"No, I should thank you, so thanks," I said.

"You don't understand. I was really low on energy and you were the distraction I needed. Just so you know, this wasn't my first rodeo. I'm what you call a half blood, or a demigod. The Greek and roman gods, they exist and have offspring. There's a special camp for us, in either California or Long Island, New York. I've already been to camp half-blood twice and camp Jupiter once. I'm a child of Hades. And all of us here, in this courtyard have a non-mortal parent. I'll explain more tomorrow." With a sigh she stood up and joined the other girls at the other end, during my reconnaissance I went to the nurse and got pillows and blankets along with gauze and bandages.

"Night," I muttered. I propped myself against a near wall and drifted to sleep.

Chapter 3 - Kenzie's Rescue

I set out with Lexi and Katie following me, we were armed two the teeth. We had spent a good thirty minutes preparing for anything. Coming out of the courtyard we had looked left, there was nothing but rubble on that side, so we went right. I swiftly but silently ran the length of the hall, in the hall leading to the career exploration room there stood another of those black wolves we saw earlier. But its attention wasn't on me, but Kenzie, she stood there with a wall of black energy around her. The dog backed away as Kenzie advanced, the hound must have scented me because it turned and leaped toward me. My reaction time was bad and Lexi and Katie were still a little ways back. I was forced to the ground, I held the monster back, and it's snapping jaws inches from my throat. I thought I couldn't hold it. That I should give up. The weight lifted from me and it was Kenzie standing there with tendrils of black energy around her. In one of those tentacles she squeezed the hell hound and then it burst into a sulfuric dust. I sneezed She looked at me and said "bless you," and fainted. I got up and looked to Katie and Lexi who were already there.

"Can you guys help me out?" I asked

Without a word we picked up her hands and dragged her through the hall back to the courtyard.

Roughly three hours later she stirred. In the meantime I had raided the kitchen getting all sorts of goodies. We had only stayed because of the hounds, Kenzie being unconscious, and us getting lost on the way back from the classics fest.

"So thirsty," she whispered.

I reached over to the pile of water bottles and passed one to Kenzie. It was starting to get dark, the girls had turned in early for the night and I planned to stand guard. We all called home and told our parents we wouldn't be coming home tonight. We did our best to explain and promised we'd be safe. Kenzie sat up with a sigh,

"Chris, thanks for saving me." She said.

"No, I should thank you, so thanks," I said.

"You don't understand. I was really low on energy and you were the distraction I needed. Just so you know, this wasn't my first rodeo. I'm what you call a half blood, or a demigod. The Greek and roman gods, they exist and have offspring. There's a special camp for us, in either California or Long Island, New York. I've already been to camp half-blood twice and camp Jupiter once. I'm a child of Hades. And all of us here, in this courtyard have a non-mortal parent. I'll explain more tomorrow." With a sigh she stood up and joined the other girls at the other end, during my reconnaissance I went to the nurse and got pillows and blankets along with gauze and bandages.

"Night," I muttered. I propped myself against a near wall and drifted to sleep.


	4. Rude Awakening

Chapter 4- Rude Awakening

I woke with a start, I didn't know where I was for a moment. Looking around I regained my bearings, I was in the courtyard at school. Feeling a light drizzle I stood up to wake up everyone else so we could get inside and not get wet. I walked over to the corner where a make-shift fort was made out of things gathered from the room.

"Guys, get up. It's starting to rain," I yawned. "We should go inside."

They all sat up; Noelle, Katie, Kenzie, Lexi and Clarissa. Plops of rain fell,

"C'mon," I said. "Where do you guys think the safest/easiest defendable room is?"

Katie stretched, "I'd say the nurses' office. There are beds and no windows,"

"You guys do that, I'm going to contact camp and let Chiron know we are coming," Kenzie spoke up.

Clarissa looked at her phone which was buzzing wildly, "it's probably Hunter, and I can't get a service connection so I can't talk to him."

Lexi gave her a look and said "sucks to suck,"

They started picking up. I looked at my friends, 'I need them as much as they need me' I thought. "Let's hustle," I helped everyone through the window and we proceeded though the halls carefully. Kenzie shined a flash light on a water fountain creating a rain bow. She started to say a chant but a recording cut her off.

In a women's voice it said "there is no need for my daughter to pay for an iris message, Noelle, step forward."

Noelle did as told and the voice spoke again.

"Hello my daughter, I wish to give you a gift and a warning. First thing is the gift put your hand in the rainbow,"

Hesitantly she did so. When she pulled her hand out she had a knife about a foot long that reflected all different colors.

"This dagger has the power to send iris messages to anywhere from anywhere and it will always succeed. And now your warning, Ares has gone mad and trapped Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon in his palace. All of the Olympians have tried to rescue them, but none succeeded. Without Zeus Athena and Hera are about to go to war over leadership. The gods are caught between Athena having her smarts and Hera having power. You seven need to recuse the big three as soon as you can. Goodbye,"

My first thoughts were that there was only six of us here. Who was the seventh? And why me? In second grade there was this thing with this leprechaun. I spoke up, "I think we should find the seventh half blood and then go to camp."

Kenzie butted in. "It would be easier if we got to camp first and then had a satyr look for him, or her."

"But Iris told US to find him, and I don't want to defy a goddess," I retorted. "Noelle can you use your new knife to look for him/her?"

"Sure I guess..." She said. She held her dagger up and looked at it really hard. Suddenly a picture rippled. A boy appeared, he had long dark hair, and he was in a car. His hair blocked his face.

There was a gasp, "that's Hunter!" Clarissa exclaimed. "He's the seventh?" She pulled her phone out and started texting him.

Kenzie lunged and grabbed the phone. "No cell phones," she said. "It amplifies your scent to monsters." She sent a text to Hunter and then stomped on the phone. "Let's go,"

I thought about speaking up but I didn't. We all went out the back side of the school towards Kenzie's van. All of us piled in, I had sent a text to my mom saying I was safe and I was going to a special camp, and I'd told her I'd be back after this coming summer. I told her that I was going to be ok and not to worry. She was going too obviously, and I then threw my phone out of the window. Clarissa sat shotgun and told Kenzie where to go. I sat in the very back trying to catch up on my sleep. The girls were chattering wildly. I slowly faded to sleep.


	5. A Slippery Situation

The van speeded down the highway. It was pouring outside,

Kenzie could barely see out of the windshield even with the wipers on. Me, I was passed out cold in the back. I vaguely remember seeing something out the back window, it looked like a horse made out of storm clouds. I decided it was just sleep deprivation and turned over. Thunder boomed overhead. I was almost asleep when it happened. The car flipped over, I was thrown against the roof, as the car skidded to a halt I thought I saw the horse gallop away.

'Good riddance' I thought. My vision was blurry. I crawled out of the shattered window into the pouring rain. I was so confused, I tried to stand but I couldn't feel my leg, so I just laid there. I could feel the warm blood seep down my leg.

I yelled for my friends. "Clarissa! Katie! Somebody..." I felt lightheaded and fainted. Completely unaware of the worried shouts and heavy feet on the pavement.

When I woke up I was in a room. There was a small TV on in the corner. I picked my head up, there was a blanket over me. My leg had been wrapped and treated. It looked like my shirt had been washed because it smelled like lavender. That thought made me blush because all my friends were girls. Pushing the thought away I limped into the main room. All of my friends were sitting on a couch, I also noticed a new kid. It wasn't just any kid, it was Hunter.

He looked at me with a grin and said, "morning sleeping beauty, it 15:00,"

I chuckled and looked at the calendar. It was the next day. "How long was I out?"

"Long enough" Kenzie spoke up. She had her arm in a sling and a sword strapped to her back. "We found hunter, actually he found us, and we made it to a safe house. Turns out, Hunter knew he was a half blood for a while but wasn't bothered till now,"

"Yeah," he agreed, "I would go for walks in the woods and look at the satyrs frolic. And I found this run down house and decided to clean it up and make it my hangout. And here we are." Hunter had a quiver of golden arrows and a simple wooden bow on his back.

I looked at all my other friends. All of them had the sword Katie made strapped to them, and Noelle had her dagger strapped to her hip. I cracked my back and scratched my chin, "what now?"

Excitedly Clarissa said "hunter has a car and he's going to drive us to the campy placey wherever."

"Sounds fun..." I replied. "Allons-y, I suppose,"

Hunter and Clarissa were perplexed at the phrase.

"IT'S FRENCH!" Noelle fangirled.

"For let's go!" Katie and Kenzie finished in unison.

We all broke out into an abrupt laughter. "Ok, but seriously guys, let's roll, and not like last time."

We gathered some supplies and fresh bandages and went outside. The rain had really cleared up, only a thin layer of fog crept along the ground.

"Where's this... Car... Hunter?" Katie queried.

"Over here," he walked over to a camouflaged tarp and removed it, "Vwala, here it is."

My heart sank, "it's… a four seater. There is SEVEN of us,"

"oh no issues," he countered, "we just have the tall girl drive, Clarissa can sit on my lap,"-he winked- "uhm, you, Noelle, and Lexi sit in the back,"

"And what about me?" Katie raised an eyebrow.

"Trunk?" he ventured.

"I will take the trunk," I spoke up. I popped the trunk, "when you're ready," I got in and closed it. I arranged the drawstring bag I picked up along the way to be a pillow. I heard the doors slam and the engine roared to life. 'Why am I so…nice? Always putting people in front of myself, and yet I still blame myself for everything that happens. Why can't I say no?'

"HEY YOU GUYS! CAN YOU HEAR ME?" I yelled. They all chuckled so I assumed so. "I HAVE TO PEE, CAN WE PULL OVER?"

The car stopped so hard I hit my head on the back of the seat

"Ow" I grunted, the engine stopped.

The trunk opened and I saw Lexi over me, "hurry up small boy,"

"I will. Boys pee fast anyway,"

"TMI, dude." she snickered. Who knew why? She always laughs.

I got out and did my business. I couldn't shake the feeling I was being watched. "Hello?" I called out. "Guys, this isn't funny."

I whipped my head around and I saw a being made out of fire. It grunted and hit me in the chest with its hammer. My vision went read as I landed in the middle of the freeway, an 18 wheeler was about to turn me into fox chow when I was suddenly covered in a black orb. The orb vanished not a second later, and the truck had been stopped.

I looked to see that it was Katie that had saved me, not Kenzie.

"Thanks, I owe you one,"

"More than just one." She emphasized.

I tried to get up, but I felt like I was wrapped in bubble wrap. I lolled my head around Lexi was slashing at the monster with Hunter lobbing arrows at it, Katie had joined Lexi and Noelle was directing traffic with Kenzie.

"Oi" I complained and passed out.


	6. The Journey's End

When I woke up I was strung across laps in the car. "OI," I yelled startled I would have fallen if Katie hadn't had her elbows propped on my shins, playing MY Gameboy color.

"20 miles!" Kenzie called from the driver's side.

"Why am I always getting hurt?" I whispered.

"Well…" Clarissa started.

Before she could finish I said, "Who was that fire guy?"

"A Talos," Katie explained without looking up. "Nasty brutes who defend Ares's temple."

"Fantastic. So we have to fight more soon?"

"Probably." Kenzie said.

My mind clicked into 'Weird teenager' mode. "Whose lap is my head on? Dare I look?" I slowly turned my head. "Holy merrrr- Lexi!"

"Hahaha, what?" she stammered.

"Can I go back in the trunk yet?"

"Deal with it." Kenzie said. "We're ten minutes out."

So, just to make the situation more awkward I said "How you doin'" in a creepy voice.

It was good thing everybody laughed. It feels like all the tension needed to be lifted. We all laughed and made small talk the rest of the way there. Approaching the hill, Half-Blood Hill, so I'm told it's called, was a place where a Demi-god named Thalia, made her finale stand to save her friends. And her dad, Zeus, turned her into a pine tree. Another story I'm told is that a second half-blood named Percy, fought and killed the Minotaur. Alone and unarmed.

'Impressive' I thought. 'I don't like this Percy kid, seems kind of stuck up,' I didn't say that though. I felt like if I did I'd get would be chewed out.

"Any who…" I tried to start some kind of conversation as we unpacked our bags and worked our way up the hill.

I stopped dead in my tracks. At the top of the hill, curled around the pine tree was a 20 ft. long purple dragon. I couldn't move. I was astounded. A real dragon! "How is that even possible?"

"At camp half-blood almost anything is possible!" Kenzie said

"Even for a loser like me to get a girlfriend?" I said jokingly nudging Clarissa who had friend zoned me many a time. Come to think about it. Every girl in our group had friend zoned me at one point or another.

"Where do we sleep?" Clarissa asked.

"Depending on your godly parentage there is a cabin with your siblings." Hunter said.

"Whoopey!" Lexi said. I think she had an older brother though I didn't know much about him.

"Not actual blood relatives," Kenzie interjected, "half siblings who share you're parentage. Any unclaimed go to the Hermes cabin but all of you should be claimed soon because you are all above the age of 16."

"Not me!" I said. "Still fifteen, and it's... Five months till my birthday."

"Chris, look up." Noelle said.

Looking up I saw a white symbol of two daggers crossed and a pouch in between.

"That's odd," Hunter said.

"Totes." Kenzie agreed.

I started to panic, "Why?"

"It's usually a caduceus," a raspy voice sounded down the hill.


End file.
